Cruz Hints at Trump Endorsement

Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump’s standoff was one of the highest points of tension at the Republican National Convention. We saw what was once a buddy type of relationship at the beginning of the primary election turn extremely ugly, as Trump and Cruz hit each other way below the belt. Before the convention, it seemed like everything had been resolved, as the two former competitors met in a secret meeting on Capitol Hill. Senator Ted Cruz agreed to speak at the convention, which made many assume the Texas senator would endorse Donald Trump.

Even though the RNC focused on Trump being the nominee, it was not certain until his acceptance speech. There was a strong #nevertrump presence in Cleveland, who spent their time wondering how they could dethrone Trump and insert a different candidate. For this reason, Cruz’s agreement to speak made it seem like he would put this movement to rest and lead all his supporters to Trump’s camp, therefore, further unifying the factions within the GOP.

Instead, Cruz went to the podium, and by the end of his speech, it was clear he was not officially endorsing Trump as the Republican candidate. The crowd started to boo, as the #nevertrump delegates started to cheer. In a shocking twist of events, Trump must have realized what had happened, and walked into the audience as Cruz finished his speech. All eyes turned to the business billionaire as he waived and smiled. Cruz walked off the stage, waiving and acting like everything was normal. It was one of the biggest moments in this far from normal election cycle. Any thought that Cruz and Trump would get along was thrown out the window. Newt Gingrich came onto the stage after and although his teleprompter said something about Cruz’s endorsement of Trump, he had to speak freely to the audience. Gingrich covered it up saying that Cruz said “vote your conscience,” for someone who would uphold the constitution. Gingrich said that was obviously Trump.

The #nevertrump movement had more momentum than ever before, and in the wake of the Republican National Convention, Trump’s campaign seemed doomed. But after hiring his third campaign manager and shifting back to his old campaign style, Trump’s campaign is back on the rise. He is tied in many national polls with Hillary Clinton, and voters wait excitedly for the first debate.

And now, it seems like Senator Cruz is making a small effort to reach out to Trump. He tweeted, “Appreciate @realDonaldTrump’s support for our efforts to keep the internet free.” Jeff Roe then said that by Election Day, Cruz may come out and endorse the Republican candidate. He said to Texas Tribune reporter Patrick Svitek, “To be honest…watching Donald run a better campaign lately has been helpful to him.”

Senator Ted Cruz will be up for a tough re-election in two years. There are rumors in the beltway that he will have some tough primary opponents. His colleague from Texas, Senator Cornyn, has already said he will not support Cruz in his primary. Cruz may realize he might need to start extending the olive branch a little more.